U.S. patent application number 11/073097 was filed with the patent office on 2006-09-28 for television program highlight tagging.
This patent application is currently assigned to Stexar Corp.. Invention is credited to Robert C. Proebstel.
Application Number | 20060218573 11/073097 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37036686 |
Filed Date | 2006-09-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060218573 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Proebstel; Robert C. |
September 28, 2006 |
Television program highlight tagging
Abstract
An improved audio-visual playback system which identifies and
displays only high-interest segments of a program, according to
peaks or thresholds of positive and negative user interaction
events from a multitude of other users of the program. A personal
video recorder which receives a history of positive user
interaction events such as "thumbs up" approval events, jump
backward events, and rewind events, and negative user interaction
events such as "thumbs down" disapproval events, jump forward
events, and fast forward events. If prior viewers gave high
interest approval for a segment, either by affirmatively voting
"thumbs up" or by rewatching the segment, the playback system plays
that segment; otherwise the segment is skipped or muted, such that
user can watch only the "highlights".
Inventors: |
Proebstel; Robert C.;
(Beaverton, OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
RICHARD C. CALDERWOOD
2775 NW 126TH AVE
PORTLAND
OR
97229-8381
US
|
Assignee: |
Stexar Corp.
|
Family ID: |
37036686 |
Appl. No.: |
11/073097 |
Filed: |
March 4, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
725/14 ;
386/E5.028; 386/E5.052 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/252 20130101;
H04H 60/33 20130101; H04N 21/4542 20130101; H04N 21/4325 20130101;
H04N 21/4508 20130101; H04H 60/65 20130101; H04N 5/783 20130101;
H04H 60/46 20130101; H04N 5/93 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/014 |
International
Class: |
H04H 9/00 20060101
H04H009/00; H04N 7/16 20060101 H04N007/16 |
Claims
1. A method of displaying an audio-visual program, the method
comprising: retrieving a history of user interaction events from a
plurality of users of the audio-visual program; displaying only
those high-interest segments of the audio-visual program for which
the history includes a peak of positive user interaction events
and/or a number of positive user interaction events exceeding a
predetermined threshold; and preventing display of low-interest
segments of the audio-visual program.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the audio-visual program
comprises a television program.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein: the displaying of only the
high-interest segments comprises playing the high-interest
segments; and the preventing of display of the low-interest
segments comprises skipping forward beyond each low-interest
segment to a next high-interest segment.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein: the displaying of only the
high-interest segments comprises playing the high-interest
segments; and the preventing of display of the low-interest
segments comprises muting playback of the low-interest
segments.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein: the audio-visual program has been
recorded and is available for skip forward playback; and the
history has been gathered from a previous playback of the
audio-visual program for other users.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein: the positive user interaction
events comprise thumb events.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein: the positive user interaction
events comprise at least one of skip backward events and rewind
events.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: identifying recovery
program segments whose skip backward events or rewind events
identify them as high-interest segments but which follow closely
after segments which have at least one of skip forward events and
fast forward events identifying those as low-interest segments; and
treating the recovery program segments as low-interest
segments.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: identifying
low-interest program segments according to negative user
interaction events including at least one of fast forward events
and skip forward events.
10. A method of displaying a television program which has been
previously displayed for a plurality of other viewers, the
television program including synchronized audio and video portions,
the method comprising: retrieving a history of user interaction
events from the previous viewers; responsive to the history,
identifying high-interest program segments and low-interest program
segments; and for each respective program segment sequentially in
the program, if the respective program segment is a high-interest
program segment, displaying the respective program segment, and if
the respective program segment is a low-interest program segment,
muting at least one of the audio and video portions of the
respective program segment.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein: the user interaction events
include positive user interaction events.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein: the positive user interaction
events include thumb events and at least one of jump back events
and rewind events.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein: the user interaction events
further include negative user interaction events.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein: the negative user interaction
events include at least one of jump forward events and fast forward
events.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein: if the respective program
segment is a low-interest program segment, the muting includes
skipping the low-interest program segment to a next high-interest
program segment.
16. The method of claim 10 wherein: the muting includes muting the
audio portion of the low-interest program segment.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein: the muting further includes
enabling closed captioning.
18. The method of claim 10 wherein: the television program has been
recorded for skip-forward playback; and the muting comprises
skipping forward to a next high-interest program segment.
19. A method of displaying electronic programming guide data on a
television display, the method comprising: displaying an
identification of a channel; displaying at least one time of day;
displaying, for that channel, a title of at least one program
broadcast at the at least one time of day; and displaying, for that
program, an indication of highlight marker events associated with
that program.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein: the indication of highlight
marker events comprises a graphical representation of the highlight
marker events.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein: the graphical representation
comprises a histogram.
22. A method of displaying a television program on a display, the
method comprising: in response to a user changing from a previous
channel to a new channel, displaying a program currently broadcast
on the new channel, and temporarily displaying an indication of
highlight marker events associated with that program.
23. The method of claim 2 wherein: the indication of highlight
marker events comprises a histogram plotting numbers of highlight
marker events over at least a portion of the program.
24. A television system comprising: a display screen; video
electronics coupled to drive the display screen; and a segment
selector coupled to provide a video signal to the video
electronics, and coupled to receive a television program from a
video source providing skip-forward playback, wherein the segment
selector includes, means for retrieving a history of user
interaction events for the television program from a ratings
service provider, means, responsive to the history, for identifying
high-interest program segments and low-interest program segments in
the television program, and a position controller for providing
only the high-interest program segments to the video
electronics.
25. The television system of claim 24 wherein the segment selector
further includes: a peak detector for identifying peaks of positive
user interaction events in the history; wherein the means for
identifying high-interest program segments is responsive to the
identified peaks.
26. The television system of claim 24 wherein the segment selector
further includes: means for maintaining a threshold value for a
positive user interaction event type; wherein the means for
identifying high-interest program segments is responsive to the
threshold value.
27. The television system of claim 26 wherein the segment selector
further includes: means for maintaining a threshold value for a
negative user interaction event type; wherein the means for
identifying high-interest program segments is responsive to the
threshold value for the negative interaction event type, to thereby
identify low-interest program segments; the position controller
skipping the low-interest program segments.
28. The television system of claim 27 wherein the segment selector
further includes: means for identifying recovery segments in which
seeming positive user interaction events do not identify
high-interest program segments.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Technical Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates generally to television program
recording and viewing methodologies, and more specifically to a
method for viewing only highlights of a program.
[0003] 2. Background Art
[0004] FIG. 1 illustrates the television and internet networks. One
or more television service providers (TV Service Providers 1 and 2)
each provides television service such as via cable or satellite to
a plurality of users (Users A and B, and Users C and D,
respectively). Typically, each user will have a set-top box or
other suitable interface mechanism located at his premises, for
receiving and decoding the signals from his television service
provider, and for providing conditional access, pay-per-view, and
other such functionalities.
[0005] Each user has one or more display devices (TV Set) coupled
to his set-top box(es), for displaying the television programs he
watches. Typically, the user operates the display device and the
set-top box with one or more remote control devices.
[0006] Optionally but increasingly more commonly, the user's
set-top box and/or television set are coupled to the internet. Or,
more specifically, they are coupled to an internet service provider
which couples them to the internet. In some instances, the
television service provider may also be the internet service
provider. The television service provider may, themselves, have an
internet service provider which couples them to the internet.
[0007] Presently, users are left to their own devices in selecting
which programs to watch. They may get some guidance from
generalized ratings provided by the television program content
providers and/or the television service providers, but these are
notoriously subjective and generalized.
[0008] More pointedly, these generalized ratings apply to entire
programs.
[0009] What is desirable is a system which enables users to obtain
more specific viewing guidance as to particular portions of a
particular program.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 shows a large system including the internet, multiple
internet service providers, multiple television service providers,
and multiple user premises.
[0011] FIG. 2 shows a plot of various user interaction events over
the course of a 120-minute television program.
[0012] FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of an improved television system
according to one embodiment of this invention.
[0013] FIG. 4 shows one method of operation of the improved
television system.
[0014] FIG. 5 shows another method of operation of the improved
television system.
[0015] FIG. 6 shows one example of an enhanced on-screen electronic
programming guide.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] The invention will be understood more fully from the
detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings
of embodiments of the invention which, however, should not be taken
to limit the invention to the specific embodiments described, but
are for explanation and understanding only.
[0017] In addition to specific drawing figures to which the reader
is referred, the reader should continue to make reference to FIG. 1
throughout this disclosure.
[0018] FIG. 2 illustrates a histogram or chart of user interaction
events gathered over the course of an exemplary 120-minute
television program. The program may be any sort of content, such as
an episode of a television series, or a movie, or a sporting event,
or any other particular content.
[0019] Three exemplary types of user interaction events are
charted, but other types of events can certainly be used within the
purview of this invention. The charted events include "thumbs",
"rewinds", and "forwards". Thumbs are the positive rating approval
indicators which users of e.g. the Tivo system can enter on their
remote control devices. Tivo uses these approval indicator events
to gather data used in guessing which other programs a particular
user is likely to enjoy watching. For example, if User A very often
gives a "Thumbs Up" approval indicator during professional football
and hockey games, the Tivo system may in the future send User A
prior notifications of, or even cause his Tivo set-top box to
automatically record, e.g. college football games or movies about
hockey.
[0020] Existing systems, to applicant's knowledge, apply these
approval indicators at a whole-program or even whole-genre level.
Applicant's invention, by way of contrast, makes special use of the
particular times at which such approval indicators are given by a
multitude of viewers. For example, FIG. 2 illustrates approval
indicators gathered from a multitude of users, who may be the
subscribers of a single television service provider's system, or
who may include all subscribers who have internet connected
televisions or whose television service provider provides the
approval indicator data to a Ratings Service Provider on the
internet.
[0021] This group of users collectively gave a significant number
of positive approval indicators around the 26 minute mark, an even
bigger spike of them at around the 57 minute mark, again at the 62
minute mark, and somewhat smaller groupings or spikes at the 98 and
114 minute marks.
[0022] FIG. 2 also illustrates the numbers of "forward" and
"rewind" events reported from the television sets or set-top boxes
of this group of users, with spikes at the locations shown.
[0023] In one embodiment, the present invention makes special usage
of such spikes. For example, the large groups of "thumbs" at 57
minutes, 62 minutes, etc. may be interpreted to identify especially
interesting or good content at or around those time periods, which
caused large numbers of users to register their approval. The users
may be doing so for their own benefit, e.g. to tell their Tivo
personal video recorder to notify them about similar future
programs or to automatically record such programs, and/or the users
may be doing so for the benefit of other users. The present
invention thus in some measure changes the group dynamic of the
television viewers, creating a cooperative community rather than a
collection of disconnected individuals.
[0024] Some personal video recorders have the ability to "jump"
ahead by a predetermined amount of time. For example, the Dish
Network set-top box's remote control has a Skip button which causes
playback to jump forward approximately 30 seconds. Often, this
button is used for the purpose of skipping commercial
advertisements. But it is also used for skipping boring or
offensive portions of the actual television program.
[0025] Spikes of "jump forward" user events can be interpreted as
identifying time periods which are likely to contain uninteresting,
offensive, or advertisement content.
[0026] Spikes of "jump backward" user events can be interpreted as
identifying time periods which are likely to contain highly
interesting content. For example, many users will rewind or jump
back to re-watch key plays in a football game, or to re-watch
particularly funny moments in a movie.
[0027] However, because the user typically does not know exactly
how many minutes of commercials to skip, very frequently a series
of forward-forward-forward-etc. multiple skips will be followed
immediately by one or more rewind skips. Often, or perhaps usually,
the user skips forward one time too many, and has to slightly
rewind to find the point at which the commercials ended and his
television program resumed.
[0028] Spikes of rewind events which follow immediately after
spikes of forward events may, in some instances, be nothing more
than this and do not necessarily represent time periods of superb
program content.
[0029] In addition to, or in lieu of, looking at the spikes, the
system can utilize predetermined threshold values in deciding which
segments of the program to display and which to skip. For example,
the user may indicate that a thumb spike should be ignored unless
it includes thumbs from at least 50,000 viewers. Or, the user may
indicate that any portion of the program that caused at least 1,000
rewind events or rewind events from at least 17% of the total
viewers should be viewed, even if it was not a local spike in the
data.
[0030] In addition to jump-type rewind events, the user may also
perform a conventional display-while-rewinding type of rewind
event. And in addition to jump-type forward events, the user may
also perform a conventional display-while-fast-forwarding.
[0031] As shown in FIG. 1, in some systems, it may be desirable to
have a canned ratings provider to give preliminary rating or sample
ratings events. In some embodiments, the canned ratings provider
may be paid by the content providers to pre-view programs and
provide sample thumbs and other events. In some such embodiments,
these canned events are commingled with the actual user events, and
serve to "seed" the pool. In other embodiments, the canned events
are kept separate, enabling the end users to distinguish between
canned events and actual user events, and to set thresholds etc.
accordingly.
[0032] FIG. 3 illustrates an improved television system according
to one embodiment of this invention. A television display device
includes the actual display screen, and the video logic which
drives the display picture. The video logic, or an intervening
tuner, is driven by a Segment Selector which selects program
segments for viewing, from video streams provided by one or more
video sources such as a television service provider, a local video
server, or a personal video recorder. The Segment Selector receives
user interaction event statistics from a Ratings Service
Provider.
[0033] The Segment Selector includes a Program Selector via which
the user selects which program to watch, such as by selecting the
program from an on-screen electronic program guide (EPG) from his
television service provider, or from a list of programs which his
PVR has recorded, or from a list of movies pre-installed on his
video server.
[0034] A Position Controller controls the viewing flow through the
selected program, determining which portions to show and which
portions to skip and so forth.
[0035] A Thumb Threshold stores a threshold value for thumb events,
below which a thumb value will not cause display of its time period
of the program. A Rewind Threshold stores a threshold value for
rewind events, below which a rewind value will not cause display of
its time period of the program. A Jump Backward Threshold stores a
threshold value for jump-back events. A Fast Forward Threshold
stores a threshold value for fast-forward events. A Jump Forward
Threshold stores a threshold value for jump or skip forward type
events.
[0036] A Peak Detector identifies peaks of the various types of
user interaction events being tracked. The Position Controller
utilizes these identified peaks for selecting program segments to
display, utilizing values stored in or generated by a Time Window
Determiner to determine how much time before and how much time
after the detected peak should be displayed. In one mode, the user
can pre-program these before and after values, and they may be
different for each of the various types of peaks detected.
[0037] In one embodiment, a Recovery Detector interacts with the
Peak Detector to identify e.g. peaks of rewind or jump back events
which, because they follow very closely after peaks of fast forward
or jump forward events, are likely to be caused by users attempting
to get to the point at which commercials ended and the actual
program content resumed. In this embodiment, such peaks of
recovery-oriented rewind and jump back events are suppressed from
or at least identified for the Position Controller, as they do not
likely represent highly interesting content.
[0038] The user should continue referring to FIGS. 1 and 3 now.
[0039] FIG. 4 illustrates one method of operation of the improved
television viewing system of this invention. The method begins when
the user selects a program for viewing. The Segment Selector
retrieves the "public history" of user interaction events
pertaining to this program, and the Position Controller starts
retrieving the audio/video stream from the PVR, video server,
television service provider, or the like, and the Position
Controller may optionally cause the program to start displaying
from its beginning point.
[0040] The Peak Detector identifies Thumb peaks, and further
identifies program segments (particular periods of time) which are
above the Thumb Threshold. The Peak Detector identifies jump-back
peaks, and program segments which are above the Jump Backward
Threshold. The Peak Detector identifies rewind peaks, and program
segments which are above the Rewind Threshold. The Peak Detector
identifies Jump Forward peaks, and program segments which are above
the Jump Forward Threshold. The Peak Detector identifies Jump
Forward peaks, and program segments which are above the Jump
Forward Threshold.
[0041] The Time Window Determiner identifies time windows which
should, according to the identified peaks and program time periods,
be selected for viewing.
[0042] If the current program display position (time) is not within
one of these marked time windows, the Position Controller skips
forward to the beginning of the next marked time window. Program
display continues, whether within the current window or at the
start of the next window.
[0043] If the program reaches its end (either because the current
display position has reached the end of the program stream, or
because the final marked window has been displayed), the Position
Controller stops causing display of the program and viewing ends.
Otherwise, the Segement Selector continues monitoring for the next
time window.
[0044] FIG. 5 illustrates another method of operating a television
system according to this invention. This method is useful, for
example, when a user event history is available but the audio/video
program itself is available "on the fly" such as in the case of a
conventional cable television broadcast, where the program is not
pre-recorded on the user's PVR or otherwise available for
skip-forward playback.
[0045] The method begins when the user selects a program for
display, and the Position Controller starts retrieving the
audio/video stream for that program. Because the audio/video
program is being streamed in real time (whether or not from a live
broadcast), the Segment Selector is unable to skip forward, and can
only display the program as it is streamed. The Position Controller
mutes the audio and/or video portions of the broadcast.
[0046] If the Peak Detector identifies that the current program
"location" (time) is where a thumb peak occurred when other users
previously viewed the program or a thumb peak has now occurred for
the real time broadcast, or if the thumb value exceeds the Thumb
Threshold, the Position Controller turns off the mute. After a
predetermined minimum time has passed, the mute is again turned on,
and the Segment Selector returns to monitoring for peaks etc. If
the program reaches its end, display is stopped and the method
ends.
[0047] If the current program position does not exceed the thumb
threshold and does not have a thumb peak, the Peak Detector checks
whether it has a peak of Jump Back events or is above the Jump
Backward Threshold, or has a peak of Rewind events or is above the
Rewind Threshold. If so, it then checks whether this is a
"recovery" by checking for recent Forward or Jump Forward peaks and
thresholds. If it is not a recovery, the mute is turned off for the
minimum specified time period.
[0048] In one embodiment, the video portion continues to. display,
the audio is muted, and closed captioning is turned on.
[0049] FIG. 6 illustrates one exemplary on-screen electronic
programming guide displayed on a television set. The EPG indicates
which programs are broadcast at a variety of time slots (the 8:00
pm, 8:30 pm, and 9:00 pm slots) on several channels (110, 112, 114,
116, 118, and 120). The user has navigated to 112 "Speed Channel"
and to the program "MotoCzysz MotoGP at Laguna Seca" which is
broadcast from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The channel and program to which
he has navigated are highlighted in any conventional manner (shown
in bold text here).
[0050] The EPG display is enhanced with the insertion of the
"thumbs" histogram for the selected program (and subsequent
programming on the same channel, for convenience). The user's
conventional thumb threshold is shown e.g. as a dashed line across
the histogram, giving the user a quick visual indication of whether
this program includes highlight segments which he should watch. The
user may then choose to watch the program in its entirety, or to
have the PVR record or display only the highlights, as indicated
above.
[0051] In other embodiments, the histogram representation of a
program's highlights may be overlayed onto the video display for
the first few seconds after the user changes channels, enabling the
user to quickly assess whether the new program is worth watching,
or whether he should surf on past it, or perhaps whether there may
be some interesting highlights later in the program which are worth
returning to this channel later to view.
CONCLUSION
[0052] While the invention has been described with respect to
television programs, it may be used with any form of video and/or
audio programming, such as terrestrial television broadcasts,
satellite television broadcasts, cable television broadcasts,
personal video recorders, video servers, terrestrial radio
broadcasts, satellite radio broadcasts, internet video broadcasts,
internet radio broadcasts, and so forth, whether pre-recorded,
live, real time, or what have you.
[0053] The term "audio-visual" should be interpreted to mean
including audio and/or video content. For example, a cable
television broadcast, a DVD movie, a music CD, an electronic slide
show of still photographs, and an MP3 audio track are all
audio-visual programs.
[0054] The term "displaying" should be interpreted to include the
displaying of visual images and/or the playing of audio sounds.
[0055] When one component is shown adjacent another component, it
should not be interpreted to mean that there is absolutely nothing
between the two components, only that they are in the order
indicated or that they are directly or indirectly coupled or in
communication with each other.
[0056] The various features illustrated in the figures may be
combined in many ways, and should not be interpreted as though
limited to the specific embodiments in which they were explained
and shown.
[0057] Those skilled in the art having the benefit of this
disclosure will appreciate that many other variations from the
foregoing description and drawings may be made within the scope of
the present invention. Indeed, the invention is not limited to the
details described above. Rather, it is the following claims
including any amendments thereto that define the scope of the
invention.
* * * * *